Review of Spetters (1980) by David B — 09 Mar 2009
Before Paul Verhoeven went to Hollywood with big budget films like Robocop, Total Recall and Starship Troopers. He was a very respected Dutch filmmaker, whose speciality were violent films with gratuitous sex in them.
And they don't get much gratuitous than his offering from 1980, which is a simple and powerful drama with some moments that'll make your jaw drop!! :O Set in and around Rotterdam, it has three youths, Rein (Hans van Tongeren), Eef (Toon Agterberg) and Hans (Maarten Spanjer), who are amateur dirt-bike racers.
They are followers of world champion biker Gerrit Witkamp (Rutger Hauer), and want to follow in his footsteps. Meanwhile, the 3 of them become involved with the gold-digging Fientje (Renée Soutendijk), a gold-digger who shows up in town with her brother Jaap (Peter Tuinman), and they sell chips out of the back of their caravan.
The 3 youths are in love with her, but it has horrible consequences on their lives. Verhoeven made some brilliant films in the Netherlands, and this is one of the most extreme, made notorious by 2 explicit gay scenes in a subway!! :O But, it is a very good and very powerful biker drama, a timepiece of lost youth and there is a dark truth to it all.
This review of Spetters (1980) was written by David B on 09 Mar 2009.
Spetters has generally received positive reviews.
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